1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a film carrier in which both a rolled film and a sheet film can be used and which is mounted on a film projecting device such as a microfilm reader, a microfilm reader printer and the like.
2. Related Background Art
Readers for projecting information recorded on a microfilm with an enlarged scale to facilitate inspection of the information and reader printers for printing out such information if necessary have widely been used as microfilm equipments.
The microfilms can be generally divided into a rolled film and a sheet film.
The rolled film is obtained by rolling an elongated film on which a number of frames are recorded. The rolled film can be wound around a supply reel (open-reel type), and the supply reel with the rolled film may be contained within a cartridge (cartridge type).
The sheet film may include a micro fiche film on which many information frames are recorded in a matrix fashion, an aperture card, a jacket or the like.
The film carriers may be divided into a rolled film carrier (referred to as "roll carrier" hereinafter) which is mounted on a film projecting device such as a microfilm reader, a microfilm reader printer and the like so that the rolled film can be fed out from a supply reel and returned to a take-up reel by the carrier to retrieve a desired information frame recorded on the film and to bring such a frame to a projecting light path portion, and sheet film carrier (referred to as "fiche carrier" hereinafter) for shifting the sheet film in two-dimensional directions to retrieve a desired information frame recorded on the film and to bring such a frame to a projecting light path portion.
In the past, a film carrier in which both the rolled film of open-reel type and the sheet film can be used has been proposed, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 4-125622 (1992). In this film carrier, when the rolled film is used, by retarding a fiche carrier out of a projecting light path, a pair of glass plates defining a rolled film convey path are brought into the projecting light path, and, thereafter, by bridging the rolled film between a supply reel and a take-up reel, the rolled film can be used. Further, when the rolled film is not existed between the glass plates of the carrier, by retarding the pair of glass plates out of the projecting light path in synchronous with the shifting movement of the fiche carrier into the projecting light path, the sheet film can be used.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 4-124621 (1992) disclosed a film carrier having a roll carrier portion and a fiche carrier disposed at a front end of the roll carrier for shifting movement in a left-and-right direction and in which the roll carrier portion and the sheet film can be integrally shifted in a front-and-rear direction. Also in this film carrier, both the rolled film and the sheet film can be used.
In the above-mentioned conventional film carriers in which both the rolled film and the sheet film can be used, for example, in a condition that the rolled film can be used, the fiche film cannot be used. Accordingly, application in which the index is retrieved in the film sheet such as the fiche film and thereafter the frame in the rolled film is retrieved cannot be achieved.
Further, when the rolled film is switched to the sheet film, the switching of the rolled film convey path must be effected, which makes a mechanism of the roll carrier portion more complicated.
In the film carriers in which the roll carrier and the fiche carrier are shifted together in the front-and-rear direction, since the roll carrier portion is situated behind the fiche carrier, the portion to be operated by the operator is positioned remote from the operator. And, in this case, since the fiche carrier is located between the operator and the roll carrier, the operability is worsened. Further, during the retrieval of the sheet film, since the roll carrier is also shifted, the moving mass is increased.
In the conventional film carriers, for example, a cartridge of closed-reel type cannot be used as the rolled film. The reason is that the required configurations of the film supply shafts are changed in dependence upon the types of the rolled films, and the outer dimension of the cartridge is greater than that of the reel on which the rolled film of open-reel type is wound, so that, when it is designed to permit the application of both the rolled film and the sheet film, it is difficult to install the film carrier in the limited space of the reader or the reader printer. Particularly, in the latter case, it is very difficult to mount and dismount the cartridge with respect to the carrier, thereby making practical use thereof difficult.